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edithperry
Feb 8, 2008, 07:16 AM
I have a rental home that has an easement to provide a driveway to property in back of this house. The owners in the back lost their doublewide to non payment of taxes, was sold and moved out. There is no one living in the back there for 4 years now. Property was for sale, but the sign is down, it was owned by an out of state bank.

Question- Do I have to maintain this easement driveway, if any body moves back there?
Can I possibly close out the easement since no one has used it for years?
Thanks

smearcase
Feb 8, 2008, 08:25 AM
I am not an expert but I believe the laws on easements prob vary greatly from state.

Excerpt from Wik:
Termination of easements
Generally, mere non-use does not end an easement.[8] One or more of the following factors may also have to be present:

Agreement to terminate by grantor and the grantee of the easement
Expiration of the time allowed for the easement
Abandonment or expressed intent to discontinue use of the easement
Merger where one person buys both dominant and servient tenement
End of necessity which gave rise to easement by necessity
Estoppel, where a holder of the easement stops making use of the easement and a third party detrimentally relied on the stopped use
Prescription where a holder of the easement uses someone else to use the easement for a period of statute of limitations
Condemnation where the government terminates easement through eminent domain